Department for Culture, Media and Sport

Gambling: Video Games

Lord Foster of Bath: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to monitor gambling within video games.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: His Majesty’s Government and the Gambling Commission continue to pay close attention to novel and emergent forms of gambling and gambling-like products, including within video games, to ensure that appropriate regulation is in place.HM Government has welcomed new, industry-led guidance which aims to address concerns about the use of loot boxes in video games.Measures to protect players should ensure that the purchase of loot boxes is unavailable to all children and young people unless enabled by a parent or guardian, and that all players have access to, and are aware of, spending controls and transparent information to support safe and responsible gameplay.The Government has agreed a 12-month implementation period for the new guidance on loot boxes and has asked the industry, co-ordinated by Ukie, to report back to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the extent to which it has been implemented.We will continue to keep our position on possible future legislative options under review, informed by academic scrutiny of the industry-led measures. We will provide a further update in due course, following the 12-month implementation period.

Press Recognition Panel

Lord Watson of Wyre Forest: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the eighth annual report of the Press Recognition Panel, and what steps they plan to take in response to the three main recommendations contained therein.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: HM Government has no plans to take forward the three main recommendations made in the Press Recognition Panel’s eighth annual report on the recognition system.The Government committed in its manifesto to the repeal of Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013, which we will do through the Media Bill, and has consistently supported the independent self-regulation of the press.

Video Games

Lord Foster of Bath: To ask His Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of the growing market for peer-to-peer trading on platforms such as Steam, which allow for games to be uploaded to people that are located nearby, and what steps they are taking toregulate that market.

Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay: Platforms including Steam allow users to trade games from one personal computer to another over a local area network. Default settings on Steam are for transfers only to be enabled in and out of personal computers where a user’s own account is logged in. In order to be in receipt of a game file transfer, users must opt in to share with other users.As a trader operating an online platform which facilitates the sale and supply of gaming products to consumers, Steam has legal responsibilities under consumer law.The transfer of data over any network needs to be done securely. HM Government is working with software vendors to set minimum standards which should be expected when delivering secure software. All technology should be built in line with the Secure by Design principles available on the National Cyber Security Centre’s website.All online platforms likely to be accessed by children must conform with the children’s code and apply measures to protect the data rights of children. For example, children’s geolocation data should not be shared by default and children’s accounts should have the highest privacy settings enabled by default.The Government continues to monitor this market and will consider any emerging evidence on this issue.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Air Pollution: Ethnic Groups and Poverty

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with civil society groups about the disproportionate impact of air pollution on (1) people living in poverty, and (2) ethnic minority communities.

Lord Douglas-Miller: The Government recognises there is more to do to protect all people in our society and the environment from the effects of air pollution. This is why we are taking the significant and wide-ranging action to drive improvements to air quality as set out in our Environmental Improvement Plan 2023. As part of the Air Quality Information System (AQIS) review, officials engaged in a series of semi-structured interviews with civil society groups with the aim of learning directly from groups who either: (1) have first-hand experience communicating messages about air quality directly to communities; or (2) represent communities that may be disproportionately impacted by air pollution. The insights from these interviews will be incorporated into the AQIS recommendations which will be published in summer 2024.

Department for Energy Security and Net Zero

Small Modular Reactors

Lord Naseby: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to maximise the use of UK-manufactured components in small modular reactors in the UK.

Lord Callanan: The Small Modular Reactor technology selection process, launched last year by Great British Nuclear, is an open and competitive process. The priority is to select those technologies best able to facilitate operational projects by the mid-2030s. As with any Government decision, this will be subject to value for money, relevant approvals, and technology readiness. This is an exciting time for nuclear and the scale of our ambition means there are likely to be significant supply chain opportunities associated with projects going forward.

Small Modular Reactors

Lord Naseby: To ask His Majesty's Government what is the timeline for theSmall Modular Reactor (SMR) competition, and when they expect the first SMR to come online in the UK.

Lord Callanan: On 2 October 2023 the government and Great British Nuclear announced the outcome of the latest phase of the SMR Technology Selection Process, with six technology vendors down-selected to go forward to the next stage. The next stage of the process will be launched very shortly. The ambition is to announce in 2024 which of the six companies the Government will support. The aim is for this to be the fastest competition of its kind in the world, to facilitate operational projects in the mid-2030s.

Renewable Energy

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government, following recent fluctuations in the energy market, what long-term plans they have to transition to more sustainable and affordable energy sources.

Lord Callanan: As stated in Powering Up Britain, published in 2023, the mission of the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero is to replace reliance on imported fossil fuels with cheaper, cleaner, domestic sources of energy. This set out our strategy to increase supply of low-carbon energy by enhancing our strengths on wind, solar and nuclear power electricity generation alongside hydrogen production and carbon capture, usage and storage. This includes the infrastructure to produce, store and transport low-carbon energy around the country and to capture, transport and store carbon dioxide.